So, you wanna be a filmmaker, eh? Find out what it's really like to live the life of a fiercely independent filmmaker from award-winning filmmaker and Filmmakers Alliance founder, Jacques Thelemaque. A regular catalogue of anecdotes, insights, nightmares, facts, fictions, tips, tricks, cautionary tales and more....

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Yes, it's me and my damn movie, again. To be totally straightforward, I'm making a last-ditch crowd funding effort - looking for $10 (or more, if possible) from each of my friends, family, acquaintances, filmmaking colleagues, social media contacts, ex- best friends, ex-girlfriends and one-night stands who have yet to support my first feature film in over 12 years. Can you do it? We are at a critical time, now, as we race toward production, so trying to see if this crowd funding thing can truly work and finally get us to our goal of $100k.

Meaning, we've officially launched into pre-production for our April shoot. Offers have been made this week for the lead couple. Can't say their names right now but they are one of the many listed at the bottom of this note. Would love to get your thoughts. Who we get is partially dependent on how much we can afford to pay - and we have to be able to make an offer asap (funds are typically put in escrow for high-visibility actors). We've raised $100k for production (trying to get more, of course) and now immediately need funds to back the offers to our actors without challenging our production budget.

I know there are more important social, environmental, health and other issues to support out there and, perhaps, lots of other creative projects (don't know about you, but I get inundated with Kickstarter requests), so just hoping that I am in the mix in terms of things you choose to support. And hoping that your contribution will not only be small and painless….but rewarding.

Monday, February 17, 2014

As some of you know, I've been involved recently with a group of writers/filmmakers in something called "3rd Page". It is as simple as this: once a week, one among us sends out a set of 3 key words which we call "prompts". They can be almost anything - a place, a thing, a color, a concept, etc. - and are usually totally random and unrelated to each other. For example a recent prompt is "Storm. Microscopic. Jolt." Then we each write a 3 page script (no shorter, no longer) that, in some way, incorporates the prompt.

The idea is to write a short film - a fully fleshed out, stand-alone story - in 3 pages. No small challenge. So, it is not unusual to see a script that is part of what could obviously be a much larger whole. But, again, the goal is to create a stand alone piece in 3 pages.

The scripts are uploaded to the 3rd Page website, where they are "copyrighted" using the Creative Commons model - meaning, the scripts are open to use by ANYONE as long as the original writer is credited. We basically let go of any proprietary energy about the scripts in hopes of seeing them energize and inspire other creative types of all stripes. Maybe even see them realized as films by filmmakers anywhere in the world.

The final aspect of the group is that, those of us in the LA area, get together "once a week" to read and discuss the work that gets created. I put "once a week" in quotes because our weekly meetings are interrupted for all manner of work/life conflicts. Certainly, individuals don't attend every weekly meeting and the group as a whole skips many a week - sometimes whole months at a time. But I do my best to address each prompt and meet as often as the group meets. Why? Because I'm addicted to 3rd Page.

I have been asked more than once why, with my busy schedule and a feature film shoot looming in April, I still devote time to this group which engages in an endeavor that has almost zero professional value. Well, first of all, I don't really believe there is zero professional or commercial value in 3rd Page. I think we are creating a huge treasure of GREAT short form content. If these scripts were made into 3 to 5 minute movies, it would be a TON of great mobile content for some smart, forward thinking companies who aren't just catering to 15 to 35 year-old males. Also, the ideas that spring from these 3 page scripts will eventually prove to be the genesis of a lot of excellent feature film and television projects - ones that will definitely demonstrate exceptional professional and commercial viability. But beyond that argument, I'll answer the question of why I'm addicted to 3rd page by answering a set of questions posed to me for my friend Sean Hood for his Genre Hacks blog.

1. Why join a writer's group? - Lots of reasons, actually, but here's the main ones for me. First of all, disciplining yourself to write consistently is challenging for many of us, so being beholden to others outside of yourself (such as your fellow writing group members) makes it a lot easier to rise to that challenge. Secondly, the creative energy that flows back and forth in writing groups is stimulating and exciting, keeping me eager to hold up my end of the energy and exchanges. And finally, specific feedback from other smart, talented folk is always a blessing. At least it is for me. Some writers love to write in a vacuum and have no interest in hearing what peers/colleagues have to say about their work. Not me. I love to get a wide range of outside perspectives throughout the writing process. Whether I agree with feedback or not, it still opens up my own perspective and challenges me to look at my work outside of how it exists in my own mind.

2. Why write a three page script? - Okay, so even if you buy being part of a writer's group, you may be wondering why I waste that time doing 3-page scripts? One main reason: BECAUSE I CAN. Yes, my time is extremely limited, but I can crank out a three page script in an hour or two. Longer if I'm struggling, but often very quickly. This allows me a regular (and emotionally necessary) creative outlet that almost always comes with a satisfying sense of completion. A 3 page script is not the beast that a feature script is - which I've been known to labor on for months, if not years. I'm doing what I love to do (and am compelled to do) in sharp, concise, consistent and satisfying fashion - no matter what is going on in my life. Finally, I can take creative risks with a three page script I can't take with a feature. I can explore form, character, context, themes, issues in ways that a feature or tv script simply doesn't allow. That kind of creative risk is not just fun, it stretches and grows my creative muscles.

3. What's with the random three-word prompt? - I didn't come up with this concept, so I can't speak to the reasons behind its creation/incorporation. But I can speak to why the prompts work for me - the prompt both sharpens and frees my creative mind. The prompts help to focus my ideas and are often the jumping off point for the story I wind up telling. For instance, when I saw "Storm" and "Jolt" in the most recent set of prompts, I immediately thought of Frankenstein and a story developed from there. But at the same time, the prompts keep me from getting locked into specific story strains or themes. Dealing with the prompt often makes me address things I might not otherwise even consider. And the randomness of the prompt words may introduce a concept among them that doesn't conveniently fit into whatever neat package I was holding in my head. In short, the random prompt is freeing because it forces me out of my own self-generated creative boundaries.

4. Why give them (the 3 page scripts) away for free to the world? - Every 3rd Page member has there own reasons for why this works for them. Here's mine: I love collective creation. I love creative people sharing ideas and building off of each other. Call me a creative hippie/swinger/socialist. As good as my work has been, it always gets stronger, funnier, more interesting, more complex - more everything - with the the input/involvement of others. If someone can make my work better or change it so that it is no longer recognizable as the thing I originally created, but equally or more compelling in its own right, that is a GOOD thing. How can we "own" anything we put out into the world? It all gets consumed and repurposed in some way, shape or form. So, I get excited by the idea that my work could possibly inspire something better than what I created - or simply just different. Finally, as a filmmaker, I couldn't possibly make all of the 3rd Page scripts I've created (and continue to create). I'd love to see them get made by somebody…anybody. In fact, I'd love to see 5 different filmmakers take one of my 3-pagers and each interpret it in their own way. Well, maybe that's the creative hippie/swinger/socialist in me, again.

5. Why is it (3rd Page) so addictive and rewarding? - If you are a creative person, you don't just love to create, you are compelled to do it. You get depressed if you don't. Maybe worse than depressed. For me creating is less like a drug and more like….breathing. I need to breathe to live. I also need to create. However, it's easy for life to fill up with so much detritus, severely limiting your creative time and opportunities. 3rd Page is such a minimal time investment, I can stay pretty consistent with it. And it thus allows me to breathe - making me feel like I am ALWAYS the creative being I know that I am. And, as mentioned earlier, the scripts are so short that they always get finished. Every week, there is very palpable sense of creative satisfaction. And, of course, reading the other 3rd Page scripts and sharing ideas with my fellow 3rd Pagers is never less than inspiring. Fun, too. And, as I said earlier, it allows me to continue evolving as a creative being through the risks I'm able to take in this short format.

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Wanna Know About Me? Read....

Born in Brooklyn. Moved to Colorado in 1969. Moved to Tehran, Iran in 1976. Went to Los Angeles in 1980.

After
attending both USC and UCLA in the 80's, Jacques secured a
3-picture writing deal with Imagine Entertainment.

In 1993,
Jacques co-founded Filmmakers Alliance. As
President, he built the grassroots collective into an important
independent filmmaking community and resource
organization with films screening at every major
festival in the world. He’s overseen the production
of hundreds of films (mostly shorts) and developed
a wide range of innovative and dynamic filmmaking
support programs.

In 2005,
he was named Chief Community Officer of the festival submission/filmmaker
support site, Withoutabox.com

Jacques and partner Liam Finn formed FA Productions in 2004, of which they are
Co-Presidents. Jacques has produced several feature films including "Shock
Television", ""The Dogwalker", "Within",
"Midnight Movie" and "The Revenant" and is a co-producer on
Brooklyn Reptyle’s "Audie and the Wolf". He most recently produced a
national ad spot for Coke Zero.

His
writer-director filmography includes the feature film "The Dogwalker"
(Los Angeles Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Best First
Feature - Cinequest Film Festival), as well as the shorts "My Last Day On
Earth" (Seattle International Film Festival. Ashland Independent Film
Festival), "Transaction" (Sundance Film Festival, winner of the Grand
Prix du Jury Award in the Labo Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand
International Short Film Festival), "Infidelity In Equal Parts"
(Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival), "Egg" (Mill Valley
Film Festival, Best Comedy Short - Cinequest Film Festival, Jury Award for Best
Short – Methodfest) and "Love Without Socks" (AFI International Film
Festival). Jacques has recently completed two new feature film scripts,
"Rust", and "Hurricane Jane" as well as the short script
for "RedWhite And Blue"
as one of ten filmmakers involved in the feature-length omnibus project.He's also written over a dozen short
scripts for3rd Page a new
writing/filmmaking collective he helps manage. He begins shooting his newest
feature “Connection” in early 2014.

Jacques
also self-distributed his feature film "The The Dogwalker" in 2006 as
well as worked on the distribution team for "America So Beautiful" in
2004.

Jacques
has been a juror, guest lecturer or invited speaker for many film schools, film
festivals, film organizations, workshops, and other film-related events. He
recently taught and consulted part-time at AMDA in Hollywood. He’s formerly sat
on the advisory board for The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival (now the
Los Angeles Film Festival), the IFP Emerging Filmmaker Labs, The Ashland
Independent Film Festival, The Santa Monica Film Festival, The Silver Lake Film
Festival and the Downtown Film Festival.

Jacques
has also programmed screening events and has been a programming associate for
the Los Angeles Film Festival since 2011.

CineThoughts

The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it, and I try to render this concept in my films. Literature and painting both exist as art from the very start; the cinema doesn't. - Jean-Luc GodardTo have a life as a filmmaker, you must continue to make films. Like filmmaking, being a filmmaker is a process. It demands education, experience and exposure.The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things, but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all. - John Cassavetes

Good is the enemy of great. Look beyond praise to the truth of what you're creating.

Juxtaposing a person with an environment that is boundless, collating him with a countless number of people passing by close to him and far away, relating a person to the whole world, that is the meaning of cinema. - Andrei Tarkovsky

Be a true filmmaker, a true creative being. Not a merchant. Make films from and for your soul.Some rainy winter Sunday when there's a little boredom, you should carry a gun. Not to shoot yourself, but to know exactly that you're always making a choice. - Lina Wertmuller

To tell you the truth, in my work, love is always in opposition to the elements. It creates dilemmas. It brings in suffering. We can't live with it, and we can't live without it. You'll rarely find a happy ending in my work. - Krzysztof Kieslowski"I mean simply to say that I want my characters to suggest the background in themselves, even when it is not visible. I want them to be so powerfully realized that we cannot imagine them apart from their physical and social context even when we see them in empty space." - Michelangelo Antonioni

I formulated my own directing style in my own head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others…for me there was no such thing as a teacher. I have relied entirely on my own strength. - Yasujiro Ozu

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